Switch
by teh Arty
Summary: It started as a roleplay, average, everyday, geekify your life roleplay. Juli didn't realize she would actually become a part of it though. Anxious to get home, she realizes she's not the only one, and worst of all, war is on the horizon. Updated Sundays.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes: **Hey kiddlets, teh Arty here. Well, this poor little story has been an on and off thing for quite some time...and, well, despite the annoying plot twists, amazing length and potty humor, I've grown fond of it. And Shiny says she likes it too. (Here's hoping she's not saying that to make me feel better.) All of this is based off of an rp forum that died nearly two years ago, called Hogwarts 1972 (I think ..;;). Characters, such as Bianca, Talaywa, Juliet, Sirius, James, Brian, Lily, Regulus, and several others that will have to be modified, because I don't know their locations now and can't ask their permission to use their characters, were all played by members of the rp. Regulus was played by me.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. I'll try to update regularly.

Canons, places, some names, ect(c) to JKRowling; Brian (c) Brian; Talaywa and Juliet (c) Shiny; and Bianca (c) Mynx

* * *

Fingers glided over the keys slowly regaining their normal rhythm, dancing fervently, while eyes watched words scrawl out across the glowing screen. A moment was taken to survey the progress of her post.

Short.

As usual. So fucking short.

Gaze turned to dark glare, turning on her own thoughts. Right hand moved to scroll down the page. How was it everyone else could write such lovely posts? All she was good at was humor…which didn't seem to be doing much good here. People were just too serious.

Giggle. Serious. Sirius.

Once again, eyes examined his post. His was possibly the most wonderful on that board. And she, as little Regulus, wasn't doing quite as well. 'He makes me look like a fucking moron. I think I'm starting to realize what it's actually like to be you, Reggie.'

Sighing, she pushed away from the wicker desk, fingers pushing through dark locks of hair, and rubbing fiercely at eyes. Leaning back in her chair, she chanced a glance down the long, dark hallway that led to the stairs. 'Hm…It's late. If I get caught again, I'm in deep bunny fluff.'

A little salute to the page was given, and she clicked on the little 'x' in the top right corner. "Maybe another night, mon amie." The process of letting the computer shut down was followed with practiced grace. "That actually brings up a question," she commented idly to one of her cats, who happened to be sprawled nearby, "Is a webpage male or female? Does gender count? If not, then how would I refer to it as a friend? Well…I suppose that's more than one question, isn't it?"

"Mrowr," Bubba responded with a yawn.

"You're right. Bedtime."

There was nothing particularly strange about getting into bed that night, save breaking a pencil as she climbed under the covers. Laughing softly, she tossed the writing utensil to the floor. "I need to stop drawing in bed."

Feeling small feet cross the bed, she closed her eyes, knowing a cat was there to keep her company while dreams flooded her head. The sweet warmth of the bed overtook her senses, the sensation of falling curling around her gently, lulling her to sleep.

* * *

A grating purr, sounding something like a growl and a dying motor pulled her from her dreams. 'So soon? But I just fell to sleep…' she protested to her mind, yawning as she woke. Stretching, she uncurled from the cat she'd been hugging close as if it were the last thing tied to this mortal realm.

"'S still daaark…" she groaned softly. Blink. Something wasn't right there. Coughing softly, she sat up. "Oh dear…"

A green curtain hung around her single twin bed, matching the cover over her sheets, which were gray, as if trying to mimic silver. The cat she'd taken to be one of her own definitely wasn't. In fact, she was quite sure it belonged to none other than her character…Regulus Black. "W-w-wodin…?" her far too masculine voice squeaked.

A hand shoved aside the velvety curtains, to show the blinding glare of the sun calmly drifting through the window. "What in the name of…"

Voice trailed off with the protest of, "Regulus, go back to sleep, or get out of here. It's the weekend, we want our sleeeeeep!"

A chorus of groans accompanied that statement.

The girl, who happened to be a boy now, slid out of bed, feet touching on a cool wooden floor. Throwing back the sheets, she found herself clothed in only a nightshirt, which had little hippogriffs dancing along the fabric. Surely this would've caused a few laughs back on the site…Oh yeah. Harry Potter equals no computers, which in turn leave internet and the site off the map, plus, wasn't it the seventies or something?

Silently, she slipped of the bed, creeping over to the trunk at the end, and lifting the lid. A few choice items were removed, including a wand, while she pulled the pajamas over her head and shoved them into the trunk. Clothing items, including underwear were pulled on, while she tried damnedest not to look at her new male body, and she tip-toed out of the dorm and onto the platform at the top of the stairs.

Oh, of course, he was at the topmost dorm, when she was afraid of heights. A fleeting glance was thrown to the ground, seven floors below. Ugh…How horrid. Turning on her heels, she started down the stairs, breathing in and out, very controlled, with each stair. Clothing was slowly pulled on as she did so, as if to distract her from the task of extricating herself from the dorms.

"Oh, Regulus, you're up."

The voice jolted the once-girl enough she slid down the remaining flight of stairs on her backside. A yelp and a whine rewarded the person who'd frighten her, tears coming to her eyes as she stood, rubbing her rear end, particularly in the tailbone area. Damn that'd hurt like hell. Where was decency? Didn't people warn you before they were going to talk, like clearing their throat or waving their arms madly?

A soft "Oww…" was groaned, before voice suddenly came to an abrupt halt. Who was that gorgeous blonde? Mee-ow!

Wait. Think Regulus. Think Regulus.

"Praise Salazaar, boy, are you all right?" the blonde boy asked, glancing up the stairs and then to the boy.

Regulus nodded dumbly.

"What's the matter?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "No searing comment? No idiotic statement? Did you hit your head on the way down?" He laughed softly at the last question. "Merlin knows, your mum probably dropped you enough times it doesn't matter anymore…" A flippant wave of one of the blonde boy's hand and Regulus realized who he was.

"Shut it, Lucius. I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Ouch. I--" To which he was promptly silenced by a rather frightening screech.

* * *

A tall girl raced out of one of the girls' dorms, staring wide-eyed at everything in the common room. Lucius watched with a raised eyebrow, and Regulus-girl wondered if she was having the same problem as he was.

Blonde hair was sent in a flowing curtain as she whipped her head around, dark eyes piercing through the two boys standing below. "WHAT IS GOING ON!"

"Calm down, Talaywa. What happened?" Lucius asked with a disgusted sigh.

Regulus sputtered, choking on his own spittle and doubling over as he did so. Lucius stared. There was something weird going on that included those two.

"You know!" Talaywa accused Regulus, pointing a finger at him, darting down the steps and across the room. "Which means…Arty!"

"Hey, Shiny," Regulus-girl managed softly.

"Heh…" Talaywa smirked, and then snickered. "You're a boy."

"I-I realized…" the Regulus girl cast a glance down her male body. "It's weird…"

"What's it like not having breasts?" Talaywa asked suddenly, reaching out to poke Regulus' chest. "I mean, you were a girl before, right?"

"Yeah. And um…" Regulus felt his own chest, staring down strangely at the place where two parts were missing. "Actually…Not bad. Not bad at all!" A grin lit his face, reciprocated on Talaywa's, that is, until they happened a chance at Lucius' face.

"Wh-what in the name of all things magical are you two babbling about?" he asked horrified. "Since when has Regulus been a girl?"

"Well, he's not now. But Arty is. And Arty plays Regulus…"Shiny started to explain, stopping with the growing bewildered expression on Lucius' face.

"George?" a soft voice gulped from somewhere behind the group.

Regulus peeked around Talaywa, "Fred, izzat you?"

Another tall girl, this one with a French, instead of Talaywa's Irish, accent stood in a flowing white nightgown. She nodded in response to Regulus' question. "Oui. I em Bianca…End joo? Joo are Regulus…" Regulus nodded. "We are like ze characters, joo know, from ze website." Her face fell into a pretty little frown. "What iz goinga on?"

"Only thing we seem to have figured out is that we are playing our characters."

"But wait, did notShinee play more zan one charie-racter?"

Talaywa nodded. "I played Lily and Juliet too. They are waking up."

"What?" Bianca and Regulus stared.

"I can feel them…like they are part of me. They're waking up. Well, Lily is screaming and Juliet is trying to sleep through it."

"I guess its good I didn't try to play Theo's dad," Regulus chuckled. "That'd drive me nutters and around the corner."

"What are you _talking_ about!" Lucius growled, looking far more frustrated than before.

"Um…Obliviate," Regulus tapped the tip of his wand in the middle of Lucius forehead. Instantly, the other boy turned and with a blank look wandered over to one of the couches, flopping down unceremoniously and staring at the fire. "H-h-hey! I'm not half bad!" Regulus grinned at his wand.

"I thought you played him as a bit of a dolt," Talaywa tilted her head to one side.

"Me too…maybe he's actually good at spells?" Regulus-girl shrugged.

Lucius turned suddenly. "Oh, you're up. Hm. I must've fallen back to sleep. I could've sworn no one else was up."

Bianca patted the twelve year old boy's head. "I guezz it iz a good sing joo are not good at spells, oui?"

"Oui." Regulus pouted slightly. A chance at magic and she'd already ruined it.


	2. The Players

Disclaimer: JK's concept distorted for my own sick pleasure.

Author's notes: Meant to have this up last week, but...uh...:blush: I forgot. I admit it. Anyway, I'll try to remember next time too. LoL. Enjoy.

* * *

'It must be kept a secret, until we know all the character's players,' Talaywa had warned.

Bianca and Regulus had agreed. Of course, it somehow fell on Regulus' shoulders to send around the note with stuff only players would know, and asking them to sign it. No one had the complete list. Maybe Sirius did.

Steely blue eyes stared at a rapidly growing fuzzy book, eyelids fluttered gently, finally sealing the eyes beneath them. "I thought we agreed to stop meeting like this…" a soft feminine voice chortled.

"We did…?" Regulus pulled him out of his light nap to stare at the girl beside him.

"Cassie."

"Oh. I'm sorry…I don't know what anyone's made-up looks like…let alone the originals."

"You're a lot thinner than I imagined."

"I never meant for him to be fat…just pudgy. Like a child."

Cassie reached forward and pinched one of his cheeks. "It's positively adorable."

Regulus rubbed his cheek. "You're not freaking out?"

"I freaked out when I woke up, and when I showered, and when I ate, and when I…" she counted off on her fingers, blue eyes staring upwards.

"Oh," Regulus interrupted. "I have to write this note thing…to see whose here and stuff." A motion was made with the feathered end of the quill in his right hand towards the paper.

"I thought you made Regulus left-handed."

"I did. But I'm a righty."

"Hm." She reached forward, snatching the parchment from under his quill. "You know, you have awful handwriting."

"It's these damn quills. I keep crushing them when I try to write." A motion was made with his hand towards a small pile of three or four quills, bent, broken and mangled in several ways.

Cassie stared at the pile. "That's disturbing."

"What?" Regulus asked, looking taken aback.

"Be gentle with your utensil, kid, don't kill it." Eyes skipped back to the parchment.

"Kid! Hmph. I'm probably older than you!"

"Really now?"

"I'm eighteen."

"You're twelve and you are delusional," came a growl from behind Regulus. He jerked up, glancing behind him. "Keep it down, Arty…Everyone can hear you…" Talaywa growled. "I found Aida and herselves."

"Her-what-its-now?"

"Herselves. The other characters she plays. I have one of them standing outside the library, and the other searching for more players."

"So…is everyone here?"

"No. I think the people who just play regularly."

"Explains why I was the first one up…" Regulus grumbled, sighing heavily.

"Um…Arty?"

Regulus shifted his gaze back to Cassie. "Yeah?"

"I heard you were a girl in real life…"

"Yeah…"

"Um…" She blushed lightly, getting an amused smirk on her lips. "Um…Well…Have you had to use the 'loo yet?"

"Ugh." Both Talaywa and Cassie cackled delightedly at the response, to Regulus' obvious embarrassment. "Let's not discuss bathroom matters here. How about we get to working on finding out whose here and what needs to be done to go home."

"You want to go home, Arty?" Talaywa asked.

"You don't?"

"Well, not right away," she shrugged thoughtfully. "Why do you want to leave so bad?"

"The thing is…I don't." Regulus plucked his quill back from Cassie and immediately set to trying to write with the damnable instrument.

"So why are you acting like you do?" Cassie continued Talaywa's questioning.

"Because I…" Regulus started.

"You don't want to be male?" Talaywa answered, questioningly.

"Because I…" Regulus started again.

"You don't want to be stuck in the seventies?" Cassie asked.

"Because you don't want to be Regulus?" Talaywa queried.

"Because I don't want to die," Regulus finished.

"Oh…He does, doesn't he?" Cassie murmured wonderingly.

"And from what I've seen, not only are we following the plotlines we made up on the site, but we're also following the plotline of J.K.'s imaginings," Regulus growled in a soft breath as a student passed their table.

"How many people have you talked to Regulus?" Talaywa wrinkled her nose wonderingly.

"ARTY! MY NAME IS ARTY! Or Chao, or Maha…don't call me Regulus…" The Regulus-girl fell forward, sobbing into her arms. His. That's right she was a boy now. Two hands fell to his shoulders, one was soft and offering solace, the other, a moment later, was not quite so gentle, pulling him from the niche of his arms.

"Young man! We will keep our tones to a respectable tone in the library, do you understand?" Madame Pince growled.

The bleary eyed Regulus stared, nodding and snuffling. "I-I-I'm sorry, Madame…"

The librarian seemed quite taken aback that a boy was not only crying, but, as a Slytherin, apologizing. Seeming quite flustered, she backed off quickly, searching for more rule breaking students.

"Maybe we can change it…"

"Change what?" Regulus' thick voice came.

"The original plotline. So you don't die. And then, we could stay here…"

"Not everyone's going to want to stay, Shiny," Regulus grumbled, lowering his chin to his forearms and staring blankly down a row of shelves.

"Why not? I mean…its wonderful here. It's like starting all over again and…"

"How many years do you suppose I have? How long before I'm no more than a memory and my real self is completely forgotten as only the 'girl-who-played-Regulus'. But no…no, I'm not a girl anymore, am I? No, I'm a boy. I'm Regulus Black, second son of the Black family. Second bloody son…"

Talaywa struck a sharp resounding blow to the side of Regulus' face, a look of pure horror crossing her face. "We really are following the plotlines…Arty, stay with us. Nothing bad is going to happen."

"What do you mean? 'We really are following the plotlines?'" Cassie asked quietly.

"B-before, when we were ourselves, Arty sent me a private message telling me how she didn't like Regulus very much…that she had a plotline worked out for him. It includes him losing his mind," Talaywa murmured, staring at Regulus, who was returning said stare, almost blankly.


	3. Theories and Tears

Author's notes: Well...Long chapter. Felt bad about not updating the past few weeks. I've been mostly without internet access. And yes...its a monday. Either way, uber long chapter. And poor Arty-Regulus cries so much (crybaby. :P) Eh. S/he'll get over it soon enough.

Disclaimer: JKRowling, Shiny's, Brian's, Nats', and Mynx's characters in use. I'm only borrowing for them for tea...and playtime.

* * *

"It's rather close to the full moon," one of the made-up characters grated. "I mean…won't Remus and them be coming out here soon…"

"That's the point!" Jools growled.

Regulus stared out the window, murmuring softly to herself. Fingers stroked claw marks in the soft wood, fingertips dancing along the rough edges. The song had no particular tune, or words, or order, but it was just about the only thing that had left his mouth the last few days.

"Maybe," Rayann had mentioned earlier, "She drove herself crazy…you know, just thinking about the possibly dying. Maybe we aren't following any plot at all."

Jools wondered about that now, staring solemnly at the figure outlined by the moon. "Arty?" she asked quietly, walking over to her. One of the floorboards sagged as she stepped on it, and immediately she started to regret taking the meeting of the H.P.R.P. (the name they'd chosen for themselves) to the Shrieking Shack.

Arty didn't respond, continuing to sing her mindless song.

The other girl sighed, putting a hand on Regulus' shoulder. "I wish you'd come back to us."

Regulus made a soft sound, like stifling a sob and a laugh in the same moment. Glassy eyes turned to look up at Jools. Talaywa backed down, shaking her head slightly. All of this was starting to mess with their heads. Arty hadn't been the only one to be affected badly. Some of the other characters refused to believe that they were role players anymore, saying all of that had been some sort of collected dream.

Voices drifted into the ramshackle old house from the outside. Sirius, Remus and James. The administrator was Sirius. All of this could be settled, finally. Maybe Arty would even return to her original state. Jools perked up, causing Lily to smile, Juliet to sigh a bit of relief and Talaywa to grip Regulus' shoulder tighter.

The three boys suddenly entered the dilapidated, each making a considerable amount of noise, save Remus, who had noticed the small crowd with horror written all over his face.

"What in the name of Merlin-?" Remus yelped, when enough sense had fallen back into his mind to say something.

Sirius stared at everyone, slightly confused.

James offered a nod of acknowledgement to Talaywa. She smiled and stepped forward, "I think there needs to be some explanations passed around."

"While your at it, where's the alcohol?" a voice sounded from somewhere in the room.

* * *

Everyone in the room had gathered into a circle, eyes darting this way and that. Confusion was written all over two of the three boys faces. 

"You are what?" Remus asked quietly.

"Role players. From a completely different universe. Your world is fake to us in our world. We read about it and decided to play with the idea. We played the characters, the people, you see here,"Shiny explained from Talaywa's lips.

Sirius blinked a few times. "That's so weird. And a guy named Admin played me? So why aren't I him?"

"Because, because, because…because of the wonderful things he does!" Regulus giggled from his position on the broken couch. He sat upside down in a mound of fluff that had previously been the innards of the cushions.

"Because I don't think he was on enough, playing as you to have become you," Brian reasoned. He sat next to Talaywa, a thoughtful thumb being chewed in a way that made it seem painful.

"You!" Sirius yelped, jumping up and pointing at James. "You knew! You are one of them!"

James nodded, blushing lightly. "I'm sorry. I wasn't sure how to spill the beans. And I was…I was just having so much fun…you know, being James. I could do whatever I wanted, and people didn't care. They liked it!"

Remus stood slowly. "What's wrong with Regulus?" He'd started moving in the boy's general direction.

"We have a few theories…"Shiny murmured.

Regulus shifted suddenly, making Remus jump. The boy rolled over on his side, glazed eyes staring wildly at Remus. The lycanthrope's eyes darted nervously around, never pausing for too long on the other boy.

"One is that Arty is following her own storyline: she had plans to make Regulus go crazy. Figured it would be natural for someone like Regulus, with all the pressures and teasings and whatnot he has in his life. Our second theory is that she drove herself insane…in a matter of hours. In our world, there's a storyline. The storyline has her character die, as far as we know…Arty's afraid of dying. I think above most everything else…" Talaywa's voice faded into a whisper.

"I might be able to help…" Remus said softly. "I've-I've read about similar conditions in muggle texts and in some of the books on healing arts." He paused, watching Regulus watching him. "It won't be easy, but I think we may be able to change things in your storyline."

* * *

It had been well past three o'clock when the group had returned to Hogwarts. Regulus had to be sneaked into his own dorm with a silencing spell on his lips. It was Sirius who had escorted him all the way, however, much to the surprise of everyone. 

Up in the dorms, Sirius changed his little brother into his nightshirt, just like he had so many years ago. Regulus was rather obliging, and had settled down considerably, enough that Sirius took the silencing spell off him.

Tucking him in was a bit of a chore, the cat kept getting in the way, staring with one eye at Sirius, something that was beginning to be rather creepy.

"Switch…" Regulus muttered, in a hissing tone. Sirius drew back, slightly frightened by the tone. "Switch!" he growled again, a strange bouncing tone whispering off his lips.

Sirius leaned forward, pressing his hand to the boy's mouth, while hugging him down to the bed. Just what he'd need. Regulus waking up the other Slytherin boys to find a Gryffindor, and not just any Gryffindor, Sirius Black the blood-traitor, in their dorm.

"Mmomber?" Regulus questioned from under Sirius' hand. The elder sibling pulled his hand away from the younger's lips. "Brother?" Regulus queried again.

"Yeah…Listen, Reg, just keep quiet…I don't want anyone to wake up…" Sirius' eyes darted nervously around the dorm.

To his surprise, Regulus nodded and pulled Sirius onto the bed fully. Closing the curtains, he tapped them with his wand, whispering, "Silencio." Suddenly, the noise from outside the curtains was gone. "We can talk now, and no one will hear."

Sirius blinked, poking the fabric, and earning a smack across the knuckles with his brother's wand. "Ooow…" the elder growled.

"Don't mess around with the spell. I'm not sure how strong it is. I really haven't had much time to test it, except earlier this morning…" A thoughtful look crossed his eyes, "Technically, yesterday morning…"

"What's going on? I thought you were…Aren't you crazy, a girl, and mostly unresponsive?"

"I've been trying to contact home. I didn't realize how empty it left Regulus when I wasn't completely paying attention. Sorry." Two circles of red flowed into his cheeks, though quickly left.

"Contact home?" Sirius felt stupid.

"You aren't the admin, right?" With Sirius' nod, Regulus continued, "Well…I realized, I'm not entirely Arty. Or Regulus. Maybe it wasn't how much you were on that determined whether you were character or not, but rather how much you were on that determined how much of you was in the character."

"Makes sense…but wouldn't that mean that Admin is somewhere in me?"

Regulus-Arty nodded. "Yeah. What it also means, is that somewhere, I think we, the role players, still exist." He sighed softly. "I've been trying for days to contact myself, but all I've succeeded in doing is grabbing the attention of one of my cats and scaring the hell out of myself."

"One of your cats?"

"I have three. But he said he'd help. He's trying, right now, to calm me down. Apparently, I've been avoiding my computer like the plague…"

"W-w-whoa…Wait. First off, 'he said he'd help'? Your cat?" Sirius had reached out to stop her from talking, holding her wrist gently.

She wiggled her wrist free. "Don't do that. And yes. Cats are surprisingly conscious of what's going on."

"And…com…com…" he struggled with the word.

"Computer. It's a muggle machine, one that all the role players have been using to keep in contact. Just think about it, you'll remember what it is."

Sirius wanted to deny that, but thinking really hard about what a computer was brought up a cream colored box with a glowing glass window and a rectangular device with lettered and numbered squares.

"Anyway…I don't think, I don't think we're going home anytime soon…" she trailed off quietly. "Because I don't think we really belong there."

* * *

Sirius had agreed to keep quiet about Regulus' theory until she was entirely certain that was what was happening. Or rather had happened. He was also to keep quiet about her sanity being fully intact. Some of the characters without players had noticed her slight insanity, and were talking of things that Arty had an idea would be useful, figuring Regulus was too lost in his own mind to understand. 

Currently, it was Lucius and Narcissa. Regulus stared blandly at the fire, rocking slightly as if to help her image.

"Another meeting?" Narcissa was whispering, in tone of voice that made her almost seem worried. "They're getting closer and closer…"

"War is on the horizon," Lucius whispered in return. "The Dark Lord is coming and he needs our support."

Regulus began to hum, a song she knew from home. Flogging Molly, such a good band. She didn't like war. Maybe, just maybe, she could convert those over to the winning side…Make this more of a one-sided war. Maybe things would turn out better…for all the characters. "His eyes, they closed…And his last breath spoke: he had seen all to be seen…"

"Poor boy," Narcissa crooned over her cousin, kneeling beside him and wrapping her arms around his stiff shoulders. "You see what those mudbloods have done to him? They poisoned his brother's mind and left little Reggie nothing more than a shell."

'No…no…,' Arty sobbed, internally, keeping a straight face outwardly. She'd seen Narcissa's soft side and it pained her to know how cold she was going to become. 'You don't understand…' So Regulus kept singing softly, "A life once full, now an empty slate, and his blossoms on an early grave. 'Walk away, me boy, walk away, me boys, by morning you'll be free…Wipe that golden tear from your mother dear, and raise what's left of the flag for me…" Maybe this wasn't the right song to be singing.

Regulus turned slowly, as Narcissa started singing softly, almost a whisper of a song, "Hush my little child, sweet star-shine...There's a mama watching over you, saying 'Ain't nobody gonna hurt any child of mine'…sweet little star-shine…"

Lucius rolled his eyes, an action Regulus caught out of the corner of his eye. Leaning back into the cushions, Lucius spread out, sighing softly in exasperation.

Arty turned her attention back to Narcissa, 'She will be a wonderful mother…Maybe.' Regulus finally returned the embrace, nuzzling into Narcissa's shoulder, to her obvious surprise.

"Lucius!" she exclaimed gleefully. "He's coming around!" She clung to the boy in her arms tighter. "Look! He's even hugging me!"

'Don't leave, Narcissa…Don't become one of them…' Arty plead. Softly, Regulus whispered, "I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier; I brought him up to be my pride and joy; Who dares to put a musket on his shoulder, to shoot some other mother's darling boy?"

Narcissa jerked hearing the words, pulling away to see a teary eyed Regulus gaze up at her. He looked so innocent, so scared. "We have to protect them," she said firmly. "Mudbloods can't be allowed to poison the minds of our youth!" With that she stood and walked to Lucius, poking him in the chest as she pointed at him. "You'll take me to the next meeting. I want to help."

Lucius smiled. Regulus stifled a sob, his face falling to cupped hands, tears falling into the creases of his fingers.

* * *

"You tried to…to make Narcissa…good?" Sirius questioned softly. 

Regulus nodded miserably. "But sh-she just became worse. I think I've done something very bad, Siri."

Sirius sighed, and pulled his brother into a hug. The younger boy sobbed softly into his shirt, whispering apologies. "Come on now, you didn't know it would turn out like that…It's not your fault…" Sirius murmured, doing his best to be reassuring, and feeling as if he was doing horribly.

It was this brotherly moment that Remus and Professor Dumbledore walked in on that made Remus fidget and Dumbledore cough softly. The sound of feet scuffling the floor brought Sirius to attention, and he sat up straight. Regulus peered over his brother's arm, staring at the two intruders.

"Sirius?" He knew about the role players, but it still was awkward to see his best friend hugging the brother he once hated with such a passion.

"Regulus was having a bad day," Sirius stated softly. Regulus nodded slightly, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.

Dumbledore smiled softly. "If it isn't a problem, I would like to speak with you…Both of you," he directed this at the brothers, who exchanged a confused look. The lycanthrope threw a questioning glance at Dumbledore, who nodded, "You may come too, Remus."

* * *

Regulus gasped softly walking into Dumbledore's office. Arty hadn't been sure if he was the headmaster yet or not: apparently so. The office was so much more than what the movies portrayed, or even her own imagination. 

Mouth gaping, and eyes wide, she sought to take up every little bit of the wondrous things into her mind as she could. The portraits were making comments on her open astonishment, but she couldn't force herself to care about their mocking words.

"Simply amazing…" she murmured softly.

"I'm glad you approve," Dumbledore chuckled.

Regulus blushed and lowered her eyes to Dumbledore. "Sorry, sir."

"Not at all. Sit, please, all of you." He made a motion with his arm and three seats moved forward to seat the boys. "Now then, I believe you are privy to some rather…odd happenings at Hogwarts of late. And especially you, Regulus."

Regulus nodded. "I believe my universe and yours had a bit of an accident."

"The universes have little room for folly. I must beg to differ with your wording. Perhaps this accident was not an accident at all. Perhaps it was a spell of some sort that was cast in one of our universes," Dumbledore started.

Regulus shook his head. "No. Not in my universe. The only magic is…fake in my universe. Well…I mean, there's the magic of a child and of love and family…" Arty broke off into stifled sniffle. Hands moved quickly to rub tears away from her eyes, as she slouched, turning away ever so slightly.

"You miss your family," Remus stated softly, standing and moving around to put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"I miss my mama, and my brother and my kitties…And I miss my friends. Especially my best friend," she whimpered, rubbing at her eyes fiercely. What a way to make an impression.

"Is that…Is that what had you acting so strangely the other night?" Remus asked. He really did want to try and comfort the boy, but he was slightly confused.

A shake of the head, "No. I was trying to contact home. I think I found a way, but I found out some rather…disturbing news about home."

"Perhaps, if you share it, we may be able to help," Dumbledore offered softly.

"We don't belong there anymore…" Regulus started, glancing up at Dumbledore. "I'm not…I'm not who I was there. I think I'm supposed to be here, but…I'm scared. I know what happens to my character in the future, many of the players do. There is war on the horizon, and I have a horrible feeling we're supposed to do something about it."

Dumbledore nodded gravely, folding his hands in front of his beard. "There are definitely dark days ahead."

Sirius leaned closer to his brother, who was not at all, stroking the younger boy's hair. With a shaking voice, Sirius asked Dumbledore, "So what are we going to do?"

"I want a list of all the students who were affected by our universes brushing up against one another as they did. Even the students who were not as affected as Regulus must be included," Dumbledore started. Inwardly, he wasn't sure where to go from there, though several options came to mind.

"We've half put together a list…But, some of the players are refusing to acknowledge they were anything other than what they are now. And the only person who might know of any others, well…" Regulus cast a nervous glance in Sirius' direction. "He's not entirely with us. We've figured out that the amount of time we spent on the site, playing our characters is how much of ourselves is reflected here. Because I played often, I'm nearly entirely conscious here. The same seems to be true for Talaywa. However, the made-up characters…um…the ones who aren't from the original story seem to be slightly more conscious too. Even if they weren't played often." Blushing lightly, she apologized for talking so much, "Sorry…" in a soft whisper. Arty always felt strange after talking for a long time. Uncomfortable, perhaps because of the amount of attention suddenly directed at her.

"Who did the one, who might've been able to help, play?" Remus asked.

"Sirius," Regulus murmured with a sigh.

Remus shot a glance at his friend. Sirius shook his head, "I barely remember anything different…Well, I know what a computer is, but beyond that…" He shrugged lightly.

Remus sighed. That didn't get them anywhere. "Who else did you say was mostly conscious?"

"Talaywa seems very conscious, um…Bianca…Alison, Rayann," Regulus started counting off his fingers. "James and Brian…They seemed like the most conscious. But um…I think I'm the most aware." Arty laughed without humor, "I'm the one without much of a life. No social life outside the computer…"


End file.
